176 PREFACE 



for tillage, consisted of occasional islets and ridges in a great area 

 of country, much of which was flooded in winter and could only 

 be used for pasturage in summer. The work of draining the 

 fens, which served as common pasturage for the men of one village 

 or for several villages together, was pushed on in the seventeenth 

 century ; and as it proceeded, large areas were allotted in severalty 

 to the Duke of Bedford and other undertakers. ' The direct 

 interests of the Bedford family were chiefly in the valley of the 

 Nene, and the Russells became a dominating influence there. 

 Somewhat similar conditions prevailed in the parishes, such as 

 Cottenham, Stretham, Waterbreach, Willingham and Haddenham, 

 which lie near the junction of the Ouse and the Cam 2 except that 

 this district was in much 3 less need of drainage, at all events for 

 purposes of pasture farming, than the rest of the fens. The 

 undertakers and wealthy improvers had not such a footing that 

 they could carry everything before them ; the owners of common 

 rights were able to hold their own, and they continued to pasture 

 the herd of milch-kine on the common waste. 



In this district we find several instances of legal proceedings 

 with the view of limiting the lord of the manor's power of inter- 

 ference and of defining and securing common rights over the waste; 

 and the records of these recurring disputes give very full information 

 about many details of life in a district where dairy farming was 

 the main avocation. But there were also frequent differences 



1 For the areas of enclosed and unenclosed land in different parishes see 

 Vancouver op. cit. 193. 



1 On the old course of this river see Vancouver op. cit. 29 also my paper in 

 Catnb. Antiq. Soc. Communication XIV, 75. 



3 Badeslade Lynn p. 29 R. Atkins has interesting allusions to pasture farming 

 in several instances : he notes that " there be usually 3 heards of milch cattel at 

 Soham, each consisting of 700 beasts, as Jefferie the host of the Bull informed 

 me, yet is there in this Tovvne in winter Scarcitie of Butter and cheese, and not 

 so mutch as will suffice the Towne." Harl. MS. 5011 f. 21 b. 



4 An interesting parallel from a similar district in Lincolnshire is afforded by 

 the agreement at Epworth in 1359, printed by W. Peck. Topographical Account 

 of the Isle of Axholme. Ap. i. 



